


Stuck Halfway

by imaginary_golux



Category: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi | Spirited Away
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Merpeople, Sneezing, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 13:14:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17829224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginary_golux/pseuds/imaginary_golux
Summary: For the February Ficlet Challenge prompt "Alternate Universe - Merpeople."Haku's transformation got interrupted, and being half-dragon is mildly annoying. Chihiro's company is exactly the distraction he needs.Idea and beta by my Best of all wonderful Beloveds, Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw.





	Stuck Halfway

Chihiro ducks through the doorway - it’s never in the same place, month to month, but it’s always somewhere along her normal route home from school, and she always knows it when she sees it - and closes the door firmly behind her so no one will fall through accidentally before she turns to see if Haku is waiting for her.

Today the door opens onto an island in the middle of the ocean that surrounds the bathhouse, a little patch of land with a tiny grove of trees, and Haku is - for some odd reason - in the water, submerged to his shoulders, and looking distinctly discomforted.

“Haku?” she says, hurrying down to the water’s edge. “Are you trapped?”

“No, I’m fine,” he says, hastily, and rises out of the water to his waist. “I just -” He pauses, then sighs, and slides out of the water onto the shore beside her. Chihiro feels her eyes go wide. From the waist up, Haku looks as human as he ever does; from the waist _down_ , he’s a dragon again, sleek and white and sinuous. His dragon half is long enough to circle the island. Haku sinks down, dragon legs folding under him, and says, “You know how sometimes a sneeze gets stuck halfway?”

“And you can’t sneeze but it won’t stop feeling uncomfortable,” Chihiro says, grimacing. “I hate that feeling.”

“One of the sootballs distracted me in the middle of an experiment,” Haku says. “And -” he gestures at his dragon half. “I can’t fly, but I _can_ breathe underwater, so I’ve been swimming around trying to figure out how to switch all the way one way or the other.”

Chihiro shakes her head and sits down next to him, leaning against the flank of his dragon half and running her fingers over the talons of the nearest foot - smooth and a little cold and oddly fascinating, with the tiny scales no larger than her pinky nail surrounding them. “Have you asked Grandmother?”

“She just laughed,” Haku says mournfully.

“Alright then,” Chihiro says, bouncing to her feet, “let’s go swimming; we can distract you a little, at least.”

Haku grins and picks her up and dives into the water, and Chihiro squirms around until she’s straddling his dragon-back and wraps her arms around his human waist and holds on tight as he cuts through the water. They’ve done this before, with him entirely in dragon form, and he’s gotten good at knowing when to leap out of the water, high enough that she has time to suck in a deep breath and glory in the splash, so it’s almost like a ride at the best amusement park in the world, only better, far better, all adrenaline and glee.

She’s never sure how long a romp like this lasts - time in the spirit world is a little flexible anyhow - but it’s been at least an hour before Haku hauls out on the island again and they sprawl down next to each other, laughing breathlessly, fingers tangled together.

Once she’s caught her breath, Chihiro rolls over onto her side and props herself up on her elbow, grinning down at Haku. His hair is, for once, in disarray, and she reaches up to brush it out of his eyes. Haku wrinkles his nose. “Tickles,” he objects, and Chihiro laughs and grabs a lock of her own hair to tickle the tip of his nose. Haku bats at her - slow and easy to dodge, and Chihiro ducks and giggles.

“Seriously, that _tick_ -” Haku breaks off, wrinkling his nose harder. “Ah, ah -”

Chihiro gets out of the way just before Haku bursts into the loudest sneeze she’s ever heard. It shakes his whole body, a rippling convulsion, and then -

And then Haku is fully human-shaped once more, lying there on the pebbly beach blinking up at her dazedly. He sits up after a moment and lifts their joined hands to kiss her knuckles, then lets go, stands, and shifts smoothly into his dragon form and back again two or three times, as though testing to make sure everything works properly. Then he flops down next to her again, grinning.

“How did you know that would work, Chihiro?”

“I didn’t!” Chihiro says, giggling.

Haku shakes his head. “You’d better finish your schooling quickly so you can come and apprentice properly to Grandmother,” he says. “This talent for doing enormous works of magic _accidentally_ is a little dangerous, you know.”

“So you keep telling me,” Chihiro says. “Another year, and I’ll be able to ‘go away for university’ without any fuss.”

“I can wait,” Haku says, reaching for her hands again. Chihiro clasps his fingers tightly. “Thank you, Chihiro.”

“You’re welcome,” Chihiro says softly. Then she grins. “I can make you sneeze anytime you need me to, just say the word!”

Haku sighs and shakes his head. “Tell me how your month has gone,” he says. “Hopefully it has been less frustrating than mine.”

Chihiro grins. “We had exams,” she says, and settles in for a long afternoon’s chat.


End file.
